A Putin army deserter who fled his military base in Ukraine has been shot dead by a Russian marksman.
Dmitry Perov, 31, travelled about 350 miles to Lipetsk in western Russia to be reunited with his wife, it has been claimed.
His body was found in a snowy field in the village of Novouglyanka.
There are fears his killing was a cold-blooded example to others not to desert Vladimir Putin’s armed forces.
A video showed him on his journey home, apparently to see his wife Ekaterina Perova, 25, and en route he had stayed with his mother in the Voronezh region.
Authorities claim Mr Perov left his military unit armed with an automatic weapon and ammunition, and allege that he resisted arrest five days later when he was found.
Russia has forcibly conscripted hundreds of thousands of men and it is believed desertion rates are higher than admitted.
Law enforcement say that after a manhunt he was "discovered and liquidated".
A report citing official sources said: "There is no threat to residents.
"Pre-investigation activities are carried out."
He was portrayed as a dangerous criminal, while the Malyuta Skuratov Telegram channel claimed he was being portrayed as a "mad dog" with no evidence.
"His whole crime so far is only unauthorised abandonment of a military unit," said the channel.
His execution appeared to be "with an eye to the future" amid suspicions Putin will launch massive new mobilisation despite official denials.
In this sense, it is a warning to current and future recruits not to mutiny.
"It is not only those who the authorities called terrorists who are ‘liquidated’ now," observed journalist Mikhail Maglov.
Perov was serving in the military unit No. 11045 of the 344th reconnaissance regiment.
"Perhaps no one will ever know why the serviceman left the combat zone," said another report.
Last summer, Russia experienced a mass exodus of men who attempted to flee the country to avoid being drafted to fight in Ukraine.
At the beginning of September, there was an 18-kilometre line along the Russian/Georgian border with people trying to escape Putin's orders.
Now, there have been reports that Russia is publicly executing troops who defy Putin's orders in Ukraine.
Reports from escaped troops have confessed to Ukrainian forces about executions which they say are carried out publicly.
Prisoners of Russia's controversial Wagner group, which has murderers, rapists and drug dealers on its front line, have come clean to their Ukrainian captors.
And they say they have witnesses public executions by their their own leaders.
The Daily Star reports a captured soldier who said: "Those who disobey are eliminated – and it’s done publicly."
The Wagner group, run by Yevgeniy Prigozhin, uses former prison inmates to fight on the front line, and was dubbed 'Putin's most dangerous secret weapon in the Ukraine invasion.
